This blog features observations from Randy Turner, a former teacher, newspaper reporter and editor. Send news items or comments to rturner229@hotmail.com

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Home schoolers remain loyal to Todd Akin

While many have abandoned Congressman Todd Akin following his "legitimate rape" comments or are split in their support of him, home schoolers have remained wholeheartedly behind him, according to an article in today's New York Times:

Many of the home-schoolers are also deeply religious people who want a biblical worldview to be part of their children’s studies, and many of them connect on a spiritual level to Mr. Akin, an active member of the Presbyterian Church in America.“Wow, this is pretty great,” said John Thrower, a home-school father from Troy, Mo., recalling his thoughts when Mr. Akin first ran for Congress in 2000. “Here’s a fellow who’s a home-school dad and running for Congress. Let’s get behind him.”The number of home-school-affiliated volunteers helping the campaign varies by event, but they can sometimes be as much as 60 percent of the work force, said Mr. Akin’s son and campaign manager, Perry Akin. He and the candidate’s communications director, Ryan Hite — two of Mr. Akin’s top advisers — were home-schooled.Students, not confined to classrooms during the day, can devote hours to campaign work as part of their social studies lessons. As practice for her typing course, Ania Bishop typed up Akin campaign literature. The day after the rally, her family — which has been named volunteer coordinators for Jackson County — spent about an hour and a half at a library near their suburban Kansas City home researching the voting records of Mr. Akin and Ms. McCaskill. They plan to design a comparison trifold board.

About Me

I am a former teacher in the Joplin and Diamond, Missouri, school districts. Before entering the teaching field, I spent 22 years as a reporter and editor for various Southwest Missouri newspapers. I have published three novels, Small Town News, Devil's Messenger, and No Child Left Alive, and seven non-fiction books, The Turner Report, Newspaper Days, Silver Lining in a Funnel Cloud, Greed, Corruption, and the Joplin Tornado, 5:41: Stories from the Joplin Tornado, Spirit of Hope: The Year After the Joplin Tornado, Scars from the Tornado and Let Teachers Teach.

TURNER REPORT PRIVACY POLICY

This blog does not share personal information with third parties nor do I store any information about your visit to this blog other than to analyze and optimize your content and reading experience through the use of cookies.

You can turn off the use of cookies at anytime by changing your specific browser settings.

I am not responsible for republished content from this blog on other blogs or websites without my permission.

This privacy policy is subject to change without notice and was last updated on May 10, 2014. If you have any questions feel free to contact me directly at rturner229@hotmail.com